The amount who said they’ll adopt WMS over the next twoyears dropped 7 points from last year to 14 percent, whiledemand forecasting dropped 5. 4 points to 13. 6 percent.

Today’s tech-savvy industrial customer expects a lot of out
of websites, and distributors can do a lot with their online
offering to help aid potential buyers. Besides an e-commerce
element, distributor websites can offer product and services
information, support and product reviews. Asked what they
primarily use their website for, 50 percent said for housing
technical/product information, up 2 points from last year, followed by generating leads ( 36. 7 percent) and generating orders
( 36. 2 percent, down 4 points from 2015). E-commerce ( 33. 9
percent) fell from third to fifth place in this category in 2016.

Customers can quickly be turned off by a website that looks
outdated, which is why we ask respondents when their website was last redesigned and how often their website content
is updated. The redesign numbers had little change from last
year, though there was a 2. 5 point increase in the amount
who said they can’t recall how long it’s been. Meanwhile, a 5. 2
point increase in those who said they update content ‘hardly
ever’ is troubling, as is a 3. 4 point decrease in the amount
who said they update content at least monthly (Figure 3).

Nearly one-third — 31 percent — of respondents said theyoffer a mobile app for their website, up only . 7 points fromlast year, but a 9 point gain over 2014. ◗In the upcoming year, where doyou expect your internet sales tobe compared to now?How often do you update thecontent on your website?